Test Your Chimping

Digital photography is great. It's instant gratification at its best, and new cameras come out with bigger displays every year. But with digital photography comes chimping, when the photographer stops shooting to look at the picture, often accompanied by tiny expressions of happiness or disappointment, guttural noises or even cooing. Even if the photo is only displayed for a few seconds, continuous chimping can be disruptive for any photoshoot.

I never thought, I was a big chimper, but after first having had a conversation about it with a fellow photographer, I decided to test how bad it really was. On my camera, I turned the preview function off completely and much to my surprise, I caught myself casting glances at the now blank screen between almost every frame. It was a scary discovery, so I left the preview function off for a few weeks, to see if I would improve. As a result I got a lot better at not wasting time, it brought more focus and concentration to my work, less irritation to my models and to be honest, I quite enjoy sitting down after the shoot and looking at all the shots for the first time.

So, here's my recommendation: Turn off your preview and test for yourself, how much you chimp when you shoot. If you camera doesn't allow turning it off, try covering the display instead. You might be as surprised as I was, and by unlearning this bad habit, you could end up improving your entire workflow.